Hoylman: Our community has fought for decades to get people to understand that silence equals death.”

NEW YORK – State Senator Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) spoke on the Senate floor today about the Orlando massacre on Sunday that took the lives of 49 people in the single deadliest mass shooting in United States history. In his remarks, Senator Hoylman -- the only openly LGBT member of the New York State Senate -- decried the chamber’s failure to recognize the Orlando shooting as a hate crime, as well as the omission of the words gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or Latino in the resolution.

Video of Senator Hoylman’s floor speech can be seen HERE. An excerpt of his prepared remarks is available below:

“Let me say something about the text of this resolution. I cannot condone the re-writing of American and LGBT history. I will not condone the expunging of the words transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, Latino. If we won’t recognize these words, then we’re not fully recognizing the people who lost their lives and their loved ones who are suffering today. Our community has fought for decades to get people to understand that silence equals death.  If we can’t muster the courage to acknowledge the whole story, we should all be ashamed.”